You Remind Me
Chapter Nine
By Bellaluna
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or its characters. The plot of this fic is mine though so please do not copy or steal it!
Author's Notes: Oh snap guys! This is the last chapter! All that's left after this is the epilogue. Crazy huh? Looks like I'm actually going to finish a fanfic! And for all of those sad to see this one come too an end, never fear, I have another JackxKimiko fic in the works. I think you guys should like it if you liked this one. Well anyways, please enjoy reading this, our final chapter!
Chapter Nine
"Kimiko!"
"Kimiko!"
"KIMIKO!"
The voices slowly began to register in her mind as she regained consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open and her head ached terribly. She groaned and moved to sit up. It took a few minutes to recall just what had happened and how she had ended up spread across the steps, but suddenly in her throbbing head, she remembered everything. Everything.
Once again someone called out her name. Her very own name. She knew the name, and even more importantly she knew the voice calling it.
"Omi!" she cried as a smile spread wide across her face. Despite all the aches and pains she felt, Kimiko leapt to her feet and climbed the steps two at a time until she was outside. There were Omi, Raimundo, Clay, Dojo and Master Fung, all looking for her. She gasped at the sight of them, her smile growing even larger and brighter than before.
"Kimiko!" Raimundo was the first to notice her emerging. His shout drew the attention of the others and soon they were all hurrying over to Kimiko, and she to them. Omi was the first to reach her and she immediately grabbed him, lifting him up and swung him around in circles. When she had finally returned the young monk to the ground he had a pale blush on his cheeks.
"While I most appreciate your girl hug Kimiko, what was it for?" he asked curiously.
"I remember Omi!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Like everything?" Raimundo asked as he and the others reached her.
"Everything!" she nodded, giving each and every one of them a hug.
"It is very good to have you back Kimiko," Master Fung said after awkwardly receiving his own hug from Kimiko.
"Ugh and it's good to be back!" Kimiko let out a heavy sigh. "Not being able to remember anything was so frustrating." Everyone gave a small laugh at Kimiko's admission.
"Well I can imagine," Rai chuckled. "Especially when you had Spicer messing around with your head."
"Heh, right," Kimiko replied. "I'm really sorry about that you guys."
"Hey, we already told you not to worry about it!" Clay grinned.
"Yeah, sure," Rai nodded. "Nothing a few weeks of extra chores won't make up for."
"Yeah right!" Kimiko snorted. "You're all healed up. You don't need anymore helping out with chores!"
"I don't know…" Raimundo said slyly. "My arm still feels a little sore…"
"I'll give you sore!" Kimiko said as she jokingly threatened Raimundo with her fist.
"Okay, okay!" Raimundo laughed in response. "I get it."
After some more joyful laughter Dojo climbed up on to Kimiko's shoulder. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving!" he said.
"You're always hungry Dojo!" Kimiko teased.
"So we really should remedy that then," Dojo noted in all seriousness.
"Well dinner should be prepared by now, so why don't we head inside?" Master Fung suggested.
At the sound of those words the boys and Dojo made a mad dash for the temple, disappearing inside. Kimiko and Master Fun meanwhile, walked back at a slower pace.
"How are you feeling Kimiko?" Master Fung asked her.
"Oh, I have a bit of a headache, but nothing I can't recover from," Kimiko replied with a smile.
"I was not referring to your physical health," Master Fung replied.
Kimiko remained silent.
"I'll be alright," she finally replied in a quiet voice. "I think…"
---
Jack had given up any plans for world domination for the evening. As sic o'clock rolled around he sat up lazily on the couch, in front of the TV, playing video games. He was winning. He had never won when Kimiko had been there. Mentally Jack scolded himself for thinking of Kimiko. There was no point to it after all. Kimiko was gone and she was not coming back. And of course there was no way he was going to admit to anyone that he actually missed her.
But he did. He missed her more than he ever thought he could. It was a hard thing for him to admit, but she had left an impression in the house and in himself. He knew it was wrong to having these feelings for Kimiko. After all, he was evil and she was good. There was no way to make any sense of it.
The doorbell rang. It was probably someone for his parents. It would probably be just some business partner or a consultant. Something like that.
Thus he was obviously surprised when Sara came into the room and announced that he had a guest. He groaned, slumping further down the couch.
"I don't care. Tell them I'm sick or something," he grumbled.
"But master Jack…I think you'll want to speak with this guest," Sara informed him shyly. "And I don't think they'll take no for an answer anyways."
"Fine, fine," Jack sighed with a wave of his hand. "Whatever."
Sara nodded and quietly left the room. Only moments later another person entered and Jack was to say the very least, shocked.
Jack froze when it was none other than Kimiko entered the room. She came in wearing her old Xiaolin robes, not to mention on oddly bright smile on her face. For a while he sat there on the couch, unable to move, just staring up at his unexpected guest, who in return starred right back at him. Jack gulped, not sure if Kimiko had come to throttle him for tossing her out or what, but he knew that smile meant nothing good.
"Kimiko…" Jack said, finally building up enough courage to speak. Unfortunately his mouth worked faster than his brain could. "Didn't I tell you to get out? Are you really that stupid?"
Jack momentarily thought that he really should invest in a shovel.
Before another word could escape from Jack, Kimiko had fled from spot at the doorway and rushed to where Jack sat. Swiftly she grabbed him by the collar of his coat, lifting him off the couch. With her free hand she formed a tightly wound fist and brought it crashing down, colliding hard with Jack's face. He was sent flying back down to the couch, whining terribly as he clutched the left side of his face in pain. "What was that for!?" he yelped.
"That was for lying to me! For using me and making me fight my own friends!" Kimiko cried out in an angry rage. "And this,"
Once again Kimiko roughly grabbed Jack by the collar. Jack let out a weak little whimper as he waited for Kimiko to let him have it yet again.
However, instead of receiving another punch as he had expected, the cool feel of something soft and moist pressed against his cheek. Jack blinked, opening his eyes just in time to see Kimiko remove her lips from his now bruising, not to mention blushing cheek.
"That was for taking care of me and letting me go," Kimiko said, her voice loosing its edge and become far shyer.
Jack could merely stutter a few incoherent sentences and gape at Kimiko as she let him go and settled down on the couch next to him.
"You won," Kimiko said, staring dully ahead of her.
"Huh?" came Jack's dumb reply.
"The video game. You won. You never win."
"Only when I play you."
"Well of course. I can't let the likes of you beat me."
"And what do you mean by that!?"
Kimiko shrugged. "You know, a n00b."
Jack snorted, finding a sudden urge to laugh growing within him. He let go and laughed without really knowing why. Soon Kimiko was joining him, both laughing until tears were in their eyes. After some time the laughing ceased and silence fell over the room as they both sat on the couch, regaining the breath they had lost from laughing so hard.
It was Kimiko who broke the silence. "…What are we going to do?"
"…About what?"
Kimiko turned, finally looking at Jack. She made sure she was staring him right in the eyes. "Jack, I spent over a month here. Things changed and you know it," she pointed out quite frankly.
"They did?" Jack said, determined to play dumb to the bitter end. He could never tell anyone, let alone Kimiko how he had felt when she had left; how relieved he had felt now that she was sitting next to him; and how worried he was because she could leave again at any moment.
"Of course they did Jack! You may have acted out of your own selfishness, but I willingly followed your lies and fought for you. I wanted to help you in any way I possibly could."
"You did?" Jack asked, obviously shocked by Kimiko's admission.
"Yeah…"
"Why?"
"Because…oh I don't know!" Kimiko shouted in reply, looking rather flustered. "I just did okay!?"
"Okay…"
There was an awkward silence again. However this time it was Jack who interrupted it.
"You know…" he began. "I missed it."
"Missed what?" Kimiko asked, her heart fluttering in her chest.
"Your help," Jack replied carefully. "Your company. You."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Kimiko sighed and pulled her legs up close to here. She groaned and buried her face against her knees. For the first time in her life she had no idea what to do. Her first instinct was just to forget that any of this happened, but she knew that wasn't possible. But then again she couldn't just forgive Jack for everything that he'd done. They were just too different to put everything behind them and start fresh. With another sigh, Kimiko's hand fell limply to her side.
Strangely enough Jack was feeling just about the same way Kimiko was. Some part of him wished that she had never regained her memory. Things wouldn't be so complicated if that were the case. Then again, hadn't he let her go when she still couldn't remember? It seemed that no matter what, when it came to Kimiko, things were always going to be complicated. He hated complications.
Jack's eyes followed the movement of Kimiko's hand as it fell beside her. Hesitantly he reached out with his own hand and with all the courage he could muster, placed it down on top of hers. Thankfully she did not retaliate violently as she thought he might, but instead she turned her hand around so that she could hold his, their fingers intertwined as she tightened the grip. They sat there like that for a long time, neither one of them knowing how much time had past. All they wished was that it wouldn't have to end, despite the fact that they knew it would.
"Look," Kimiko began, her voice serious, but not angry. "We're different you and I and I highly doubt that's going to change any time soon. You're going to keep on with your plans for world domination and I'm going to keep stopping you."
"Then what do we do?" Jack asked.
"Absolutely nothing," Kimiko replied simply, finally releasing Jack's hand and standing up.
"Wait…what?"
"We do nothing," Kimiko repeated. "Because I know that right now Jack, you really like what you're doing. But I think that some day that's going to wear off. Someday being evil won't be so appealing to you."
"Oh really?" Jack retorted, standing up as well, just a bit too close to Kimiko. "And just what makes you think that?"
"Because," Kimiko said, leaning in even closer, so that her lips hovered only inches away from his. "Some stupid part of me believes in you."
She smiled and finally pressed her lips against his. Far too quickly she pulled away and fled to the doorway. She paused and looked back at the now shocked Jack. "I'll see you around."
"Ah…yeah, right," Jack lamely replied as Kimiko left the room. He crashed back down on the couch and held his hand to his mouth. That had certainly been unexpected. He had expected her to kill him when she got her memories back, not kiss her. And yet she had. And he had certainly liked it.
A lot.
Maybe Kimiko was right. Maybe he could change.
For her?